William Mebarak Chadid was born in New York on September 6, 1932. His parents, Alberto Mebarak Spath and Isabel Chadid Baizer, had recently arrived from Lebanon. They relocated to Barranquilla, Colombia, five years later. That’s the place where William was raised, and that is when his story starts to get interesting.
He’s 93 now. And he has been through more in the last three years than most people experience in a decade.
Before Shakira
William had a whole life before his famous daughter came along. He was married to Lucila Mebarak, and they had nine kids together. Nine! Their names were Robin, Moises, Tonino, Alberto, Jose, Lucy, Ana, and Edward. But one of them, his eldest son, died in a car accident at 19. You don’t get over something like that.
After his first marriage ended, William met Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado. She was a painter from Colombia. They got married, and on 2nd February 1977, Shakira was born. She was their only child together, though the house was already full of her half-siblings.
William worked loads of different jobs over the years. Teacher. Journalist. Insurance agent. Health visitor. But what he really loved was writing. In 2011, he published a book called “Al Viento y al Azar” – basically “In the Wind and at Random.” It’s a collection of personal essays and love stories.
Shakira edited it herself. She said she loved her dad’s “rebellious attitude” and “brutal honesty”. Coming from someone who writes her own brutally honest songs, that’s saying something.
The Father Who Believed First
Here’s something most people probably don’t know: William was Shakira’s first manager. He was her backer when she was just a teenager with starry-eyed dreams. Imagine your dad being the only man who actually thought you had a shot.
More than people realise, it’s Shakira’s Lebanese side that shaped her music. In her song “Ojos Así” (1998), there are lines in Arabic. That’s William’s influence. He didn’t just give her his last name — he gave her his culture, his stories, and his love of other languages.
Shakira was honoured in Las Vegas as the Latin Recording Academy’s Person of the Year in 2011. William performed “Mi Niña Bonita” on stage that night and sang it to her. It is a lullaby he used to sing her when she was little. The lyrics: “If one day my girl gets married in an ermine white dress, I’ll remember that I dreamed of having a boy. So I’ll ask the Lord and pray that the man who takes her away always loves her.”
Everyone cried. Proper ugly crying.
When Everything Started Going Wrong
May 2022. William was 90 and residing in Barcelona with Shakira. He fell badly. The photos Shakira shared depicted him with a black eye and bandages on his head. She’d ridden with him in the ambulance to the hospital.
Then October 2022 happened. William had a stroke. Shakira was present throughout his rehabilitation, posting videos of them working on cognitive exercises together. She would show him flashcards with Spanish words on them, coaxing him to practise reading them out loud. “My dad is discharged, already home and on the mend,” she wrote later.
But it wasn’t over. June 2023 – doctors determined he had water in the brain. This condition is hydrocephalus, and it is when fluid builds up in the brain. He required a valve to be implanted in a surgical operation. Shakira flew to Cartagena to be with him.
Shakira and her sons, Milan and Sasha, moved to Miami in 2023 after she separated from Gerard Piqué. William and Nidia followed them. But this is the catch – William was unable to fly in a traditional sense. His health was too dodgy. An ambulance had to take them there. In the end, they returned to Colombia.
5th June 2024. William had been rushed to the Ibero-American Clinic in Barranquilla, according to El Heraldo, a Colombian newspaper. Pneumonia. He had been in intensive care, connected to monitors. By mid-June, there were reports that he’d gotten a little better.
But by November 2025, his health had deteriorated once more. Shakira hasn’t made many public statements about it, and that sort of makes sense; it’s her dad. But right now she’s on a break from her world tour. The tour starts up again in May in the States.
What Nobody Talks About
Despite having the world’s most famous daughter, William stays quiet. No social media. No interviews. He just lives his life.
His nationality is properly complicated. Born in New York to Lebanese immigrants, raised in Colombia. So he’s Colombian-American with Lebanese heritage. That mix is all over Shakira’s music – Latin rhythms, Arabic sounds, and American pop sensibilities.
William Mebarak Chadid’s net worth? Nobody knows. He’s never discussed money. Shakira is worth about $400 million, and she makes sure her parents are looked after. That’s all that matters.
More Than Just “Shakira’s Dad”
What gets me about William is that he had his own thing going. He wrote books. He taught literature. He raised ten children – ten kids! He worked different jobs whilst staying creative. That takes something special.
When Shakira posted on his 91st birthday in 2022, she wrote, “Daddy, you’ve had Covid, two falls, and two operations. It’s been a lot this year, and you’re still, at 91 years old, teaching me resilience and limitless love every day.”
Another time, she just shared family photos with “Your smile is my weakness.”
That’s real. That’s a bond you can’t fake.
What He Actually Taught Her
William taught Shakira honesty. His writing is brutally honest. So are her songs. He taught her to be rebellious, to question everything, to never settle for less. Those traits made her the artist she is.
But more than that, he showed her what real love looks like. The kind that shows up at hospital appointments. That travels in ambulances. That practice cognitive exercises with flashcards. The kind that doesn’t give up when things get really, really hard.
Where Things Stand Now
William’s 93. After three years of falls, strokes, surgery, and pneumonia, he’s taking things easier. He spends time with his wife, Nidia, and sees his grandchildren when he can. Maybe he still writes in quiet moments. I hope he does.
The world knows him as Shakira’s dad. But he was a writer first. A teacher. A journalist. A man who crossed oceans, raised a massive family, buried a son, worked multiple careers, and still found time to nurture his daughter’s talent.
Every time Shakira performs, William’s there with her. His Lebanese roots, his love of literature, his resilience – it’s woven into everything she does.
William Mebarak Chadid might not be famous like his daughter, but his influence on her life is huge. And at 93, after everything he’s been through, he’s still teaching her lessons about strength and love.
That’s what being a parent really means. Not the fame or the money. Just leaving a mark on the person you raised. William’s done that. And he’s still doing it, even now.
